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Month: November 2013

From the moment I could read, I became an introvert. The worlds I visited, the characters I got to know, the meditative and silent state I fell into – they fed my inner world. The questions that I sought to answer by reading more, by thinking and questioning, helped me to make sense of the world. In some ways, I was an extroverted child; I played with many people, I had moments of loudness and overwhelming excitement – but I always returned to and felt nourished by moments of silence, playing on my own or reading. My parents’ attempts to get me to put a book down at social gatherings would often end in frustration.

How much did being a deaf child contribute to this desire to stick my nose in a book? It may have contributed in some way, especially as I reached the awkward pre-teen ages, and my…

‘A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the “half empty or half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face she inquired, “How heavy is this glass of water?” The answers called out ranged from 8oz to 20 oz.

She replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, its not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

She continued, “The stress and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for…